anapest

an·a·pest also an·a·paest  (n-pst)

n.

1. A metrical foot composed of two short syllables followed by one long one, as in the word seventeen.

2. A line of verse using this meter; for example, "'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house" Clement Clarke Moore.

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[Latin anapaestus, from Greek anapaistos : ana-, ana- + paiein, pais-, to strike (so called because an anapest is a reversed dactyl); see pau-² in Indo-European roots.]

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ana·pestic adj.

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anapest

a foot of three syllables, the first two short or unstressed, the third long or stressed. — anapestic, adj.

See also: Verse

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

anapest - a metrical unit with unstressed-unstressed-stressed syllables anapaest metrical foot, metrical unit, foot - (prosody) a group of 2 or 3 syllables forming the basic unit of poetic rhythm